Newsline - September 10, 2003

GOVERNMENT CONSIDERS RUSSIAN-BELARUSIAN RUBLE PLAN...First Deputy Finance Minister Aleksei Ulyukaev told reporters on 9 September that the government will consider an agreement to introduce the Russian ruble as the single currency of Russia and Belarus, RBK reported. Ulyukaev said both sides have initialed the agreement and the government is likely to approve it, but acknowledged that Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has a number of objections to it. Ulyukaev, however, was more upbeat about the prospects for introducing the ruble as the Russian-Belarusian currency than Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, who said on 6 September that no agreement to that effect will be signed in the near future because of Minsk's insistence that Russia first adopt a constitutional act on the formation of a union state (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 September 2003). JB

...WHILE PLAYING HARDBALL WITH MINSKOn 6 September, Prime Minister Kasyanov ordered the government to analyze a proposal by state-controlled Gazprom to stop selling natural gas to Belarus at the price reserved for domestic Russian consumers, "The Moscow Times" reported on 8 September. Gazprom's proposal appeared to be a response to the deadlock in its talks with Beltransgaz, the Belarusian monopoly gas carrier, over creating a joint venture to manage Belarus' oil-and-gas network. A number of observers, however, believe the proposal is actually retaliation for Lukashenka's recalcitrance over the single-currency issue. Former Belarusian Prime Minister Vyacheslau Kebich said Gazprom's proposal to end preferential pricing for Belarus was "agreed upon at the level of the Russian leadership" and evidence of a "hardening of [Russia's] foreign-policy course in relation to Belarus," gazeta.ru reported on 8 September. Valerii Nesterov of the Troika Dialog investment bank told "The Moscow Times" that the threat to end subsidized gas for Belarus is evidence of "a major crisis of Russian and Belarus relations." JB

GREENPEACE CHARGES THAT ATOMIC MINISTRY SKIMPED ON NUKE SAFETY FUNDS...The Russian branch of Greenpeace has accused the Atomic Energy Ministry of falling short of its spending targets for nuclear safety, Interfax reported on 9 September. Vladimir Chuprov, coordinator of Russian Greenpeace's energy department, told a Moscow news conference that the nuclear industry failed to pay up to 10 billion rubles ($300 million) -- as much as one-fifth of the industry's annual revenues -- to finance, among other things, enterprises that store spent nuclear fuel and the decommissioning of generating units that have reached the end of their service lives. Half of the funds that the nuclear industry are allegedly withholding are for social expenditures to support people living in areas where nuclear plants are situated, Chuprov added. Nikolai Shingarev, chief of the Atomic Energy Ministry's department for cooperation with state power bodies and information policy, denied Greenpeace's charges. The ministry has been financing the country's radiation-safety programs in full, he said, adding that programs aimed at enhancing radiation safeguards "are among the ministry's main priorities," Interfax reported. JB

...AS THE DUMA SEEKS GUIDANCE ON NUCLEAR-MATERIALS CONTROLThe State Duma has urged the government to draft regulations on controlling nuclear materials and to outline "the goals, tasks, and rules of state organizations' operations in this area and the liability of entities dealing with nuclear materials," Interfax reported on 9 September. Last month, the Federal Monitoring Authority for Nuclear and Radiation Safety, Gosatomnadzor, warned in a press release that there have been "numerous breaches of regulations, distortions in the accounting of nuclear materials, and organizational flaws in the operation of facilities using such materials." Gosatomnadzor stated that the reason for these problems is the failure to fully institute a system of accounting for and controlling nuclear materials, Interfax reported on 27 August. JB

MEMORIAL SERVICE HELD IN MOSCOW FOR 1999 BOMBING VICTIMS...A memorial service was held on ulitsa Guryanova in southeastern Moscow on 9 September to mark the fourth anniversary of a bombing that destroyed a nine-story apartment there, newsru.com reported. The blast, which took place just before midnight on 8 September 1999 and killed 106 people, was one of a series in Moscow and other Russian cities that killed more than 300 people. The authorities blamed the blasts on Chechen militants and used them to justify renewed military intervention in Chechnya. Among those who gathered to mark the tragedy were relatives of the victims, Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov, and Moscow City Duma Chairman Vladimir Platonov. A chapel built on the site in memory of the bombing victims was consecrated. The Prosecutor-General's Office announced that Yusuf Krymshamkhalov and Adam Dekkushev, who are accused of carrying out the bombings of the ulitsa Guryanova building and another Moscow apartment block five days later, have begun to familiarize themselves with the prosecutors' case against them. Krymshamkhalov and Dekkushev are in jail in Moscow, while seven other alleged co-conspirators are either dead or remain at large (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 May 2003). JB

...WHILE SOME STILL QUESTION THE OFFICIAL VERSION OF EVENTSThe authorities have alleged that the perpetrators of the Moscow blasts prepared 6 tons of explosives in Urus-Martan, Chechnya, in May 1999, and then transferred them to Stavropol Krai and on to Moscow, mn.ru, the website of the weekly "Moskovskie novosti" noted on 9 September. They also claim the bombings' masterminds were two Arabs fighting with the Chechen rebels, Khattab and Abu Umar, both of whom were subsequently killed. Some observers, however, claim the Russian special services were actually behind the bombings. Among other things, they point to an incident on 22 September 1999 in which Federal Security Service (FSB) agents were caught planting what appeared to be explosives in an apartment building in Ryazan. FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev later explained the incident away as a "training exercise." In a item posted on 9 September on grani.ru, commentator Ilya Milshtein wrote that Russia's political life ended with the 1999 bombings and that the country will be "spinning its wheels" until it figures out who was behind them. "It is very important to find out, despite the most sincere, heartfelt urge to state that we know everything already," Milshtein wrote. Grani.ru is controlled by the self-exiled former oligarch Boris Berezovskii, who has repeatedly alleged that the FSB was behind the bombings. JB

DUMA WANTS TO REVISE LAW ON CITIZENSHIP...On the opening day of its autumn session, the Duma adopted an appeal asking President Vladimir Putin to submit amendments to the law on citizenship, Russian media reported on 9 September. Speaking to Interfax, one of the appeal's authors, Deputy Viktor Alksnis (Russian Regions), said Duma members expected to receive a revised text of the law on citizenship soon after Putin pointed out flaws in the statute during his 16 May address to Federal Assembly. The Duma's appeal argued that problems in the law on citizenship "have created serious difficulty for millions of our compatriots seeking to receive Russian Federation citizenship." That law went into effect on 1 July 2002. LB

...AND REJECTS SPS INITIATIVE TO LOWER MINIMUM AGE FOR PARTY MEMBERSAlso on 9 September, the Duma voted down a proposal to reduce the minimum age for members of political parties from 18 to 16, Interfax reported. The Union of Rightist Forces (SPS), which is widely supported among young people, proposed the change. Sponsors argued that being able to join political parties would reduce the number of young Russians joining extremist or other harmful organizations, Radio Mayak reported. Aleksandr Kotenkov, the president's representative in the Duma, argued that since Russians under the age of 18 cannot vote, letting them become party members would violate the law on political parties, which requires that all party members must have equal rights. The Duma's Committee on Public Associations and Religious Organizations also recommended that deputies reject the SPS proposal on the grounds that the Russian Constitution guarantees full rights and responsibilities to citizens only upon reaching the age of 18. LB

AGRARIANS TO GO IT ALONEThe Agrarian Party held an extraordinary congress in Moscow on 9 September to outline its strategy for the 7 December State Duma elections, Russian media reported. Delegates approved plans for the party to campaign independently and named the party's top three candidates: Agrarian Party leader and head of the Altai Republic Mikhail Lapshin, Altai Krai legislature chairman and former Agriculture Minister Aleksandr Nazarchuk, and party Deputy Chairman and businessman Aleksei Chepa. Lapshin and Nikolai Kharitonov, head of the Agro-Industrial Group in the Duma, traded insults during the congress, "Rossiiskaya gazeta" reported on 10 September. Kharitonov cooperates closely with the Communist Party and has long accused the Agrarian Party leadership of selling out to the authorities. Kharitonov will be the No. 3 candidate on the Communist Party list. The Agrarian Party received 8 percent of the vote in the 1993 Duma elections, but failed to clear the 5 percent threshold in 1995. In 1999, the party joined the Fatherland-All Russia alliance. LB

DIRECTOR OF STATE-OWNED POLLSTER FORMS PRIVATE FIRMYurii Levada, the longtime director of the state-owned All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM), announced on 9 September that he and an unspecified number of his colleagues are leaving VTsIOM to form a private polling firm called Analytical Service VTsIOM, or VTsIOM-A, "Izvestiya" reported on 10 September. At a press conference last month, Levada warned that certain politicians are dissatisfied with VTsIOM's research and were planning to appoint a new board of directors, including state officials, to oversee the work of the widely respected polling agency (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 August 2003). In a lengthy interview with Ekho Moskvy on 9 September, Levada said VTsIOM-A will not have any sponsors and will finance its activities solely through revenues received for conducting surveys and analyses. Asked by "Izvestiya" whether he was ready for potential lawsuits that might arise concerning his new firm's name, Levada replied that the name has been registered and patented and so can be defended under the law. LB

SUPREME COURT DECLINES TO REVIEW ECOJOURNALIST'S CASEThe Presidium of the Supreme Court has declined to review former military journalist Grigorii Pasko's December 2001 conviction for espionage, "Gazeta" reported on 8 September, citing Pasko's attorney, Ivan Pavlov. Sentenced to four years' imprisonment for passing classified information about Russia's Pacific Fleet to Japanese journalists, Pasko spent two years and eight months in custody, including his time in pretrial detention, before being paroled in January 2003. However, he continues to protest his innocence and to seek exoneration. Since his release, he has been denied a passport for foreign travel (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 July 2003 and 13 August 2003). LB

PUTIN'S TELEVISED ENDORSEMENT PROMPTS INVESTIGATIONThe St. Petersburg Election Commission on 9 September agreed to begin a month-long investigation into national television coverage of President Putin's recent meeting with gubernatorial candidate and presidential envoy to the Northwest Federal District Valentina Matvienko, Interfax reported. During that meeting, which was broadcast on state-controlled ORT and state-owned RTR television, Putin praised Matvienko's proposals and wished her success in the 21 September gubernatorial election (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 September 2003). City Election Commission Deputy Chairman Dmitrii Krasnyanskii said the matter will be referred to the courts if the investigation determines that the media broke the law regulating campaign coverage. Meanwhile, rival candidate and Deputy St. Petersburg Governor Anna Markova has filed a lawsuit seeking to revoke Matvienko's registration on the grounds that Putin's endorsement violates Russian law. Gazeta.ru reported on 9 September that court hearings in that case have been postponed until the St. Petersburg Election Commission formally evaluates Putin's actions. LB

KRASNOYARSK LEGISLATURE SET TO REMOVE CONTROVERSIAL BUSINESSMANThe Krasnoyarsk Legislative Assembly's commission on legal matters on 9 September voted to revoke former Krasnoyarsk Aluminum head Anatolii Bykov's status as a deputy in the legislature, RIA-Novosti and Ekho Moskvy reported. The full legislature is expected to confirm that decision on 16 September. Bykov reportedly agreed to resign from the legislature following his conviction for involvement in the murder of another businessman (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 July 2003). According to RIA-Novosti, Bykov plans to run for the State Duma in December, contesting a single-mandate district in Krasnoyarsk Krai. Lenta.ru noted on 9 September that Russian law does not allow convicted criminals to remain in legislative posts, but it does allow convicted criminals to seek legislative office. LB

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT BANS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT...After parliamentary consideration the previous day, deputies voted on 9 September to ban capital punishment in Armenia, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau and Armenpress reported. The vote formally ratified Armenia's ascension to Protocol 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, a key remaining obligation of Armenian membership of the Council of Europe. The vote specifically abolished a clause in Armenia's new Criminal Code that would allow capital punishment in exceptional cases, widely seen as a measure designed to allow the execution of the five defendants currently on trial for the 1999 attack on the Armenian parliament and killing of senior government officials, if they are convicted (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 August and 9 September 2003). Although the measure was overwhelmingly adopted, nearly all of the deputies from the opposition Artarutiun (Justice) bloc voted against ratification. RG

...AND AUTHORIZES NEW HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMANIn a separate vote on 9 September, parliament also adopted a bill creating a new post of human rights ombudsman, fulfilling another Council of Europe requirement, Armenpress and Azg reported. Under the bill, Armenia's first ombudsman will be nominated by the president and subject to parliamentary confirmation. He or she will later be replaced by parliament after the passage of proposed constitutional reforms. Serving a six-year term, the new ombudsman is empowered to investigate cases before any court and to offer advice "to guarantee fair legal proceedings for every citizen, in line with the constitution and international laws." RG

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT LAUDS ECONOMIC GROWTH, PLEDGES EU BID...In comments made on 9 September during a state visit to Bulgaria, Robert Kocharian lauded recent economic growth in Armenia, vowing that it will continue to develop rapidly and pledging to meet membership requirements for new entrants in the European Union by 2015, according to RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau. Kocharian added that "the Armenian economy is entering a period of sustainable development," citing the country's macroeconomic statistics over the past several years. RG

...DESPITE SERIOUS SOCIAL PROBLEMSDespite the president's claim on 9 September that his government is effectively "overcoming many problems of the transition period," the country is still plagued by high poverty, widening socioeconomic disparities, and income inequality, with a per capita GDP of just over $800, significantly less than that of other EU aspirant states. Official statistics report nearly a 13 percent growth rate in Armenia's GDP for 2002 and an estimated 14.8 percent increase in the first half of this year. But many economists have expressed concern over the "paradox" of the Armenian economy, where continued growth have failed to reduce rising national poverty or to redress the country's high level of unemployment. RG

AZERBAIJANI PREMIER PLEDGES DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONAzerbaijani Prime Minister Ilham Aliev promised on 8 September that his country's upcoming presidential election will be democratic and pledged to maintain domestic stability, Armenpress and Interfax reported. The pledge followed a briefing on the political situation in Azerbaijan by the premier for his Turkish counterpart Rejep Tayip Erdogan during a visit to Turkey (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 September 2003). Commenting on Turkey's relations with Armenia, Erdogan affirmed that Ankara's policy remains unchanged and ruled out any Turkish-Armenian cooperation until the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is settled. Erdogan added that Turkey will not open its border with Armenia and ruled out recent reports suggesting that Turkey will resume railway traffic with Armenia. RG

PRO-GOVERNMENT GEORGIAN BLOC ATTRACTS MORE MEMBERSAfter meeting with President Eduard Shevardnadze on 9 September, Tbilisi-based Abkhaz government in exile chairman Tamaz Nadareishvili, parliamentary Security and Defense Committee Chairman Irakli Batiashvili, and former Defense Minister Giorgi Karkarashvili announced their commitment to the pro-governmental For New Georgia bloc, the independent Rustavi-2 television station and Civil Georgia reported. The announcement follows a similar move by former State Minister Vazha Lortkipanidze on 8 September (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 September 2003). The addition of Nadareishvili to the bloc serves to protect the government's standing on the Abkhaz conflict, although it might also harden Tbilisi's approach to talks aimed at resolving the Abkhaz conflict. RG

GEORGIAN SECURITY OPERATION LAUNCHED IN CRIME-RIDDLED REGIONThe Georgian Interior Ministry began a special security operation in the mountainous northwestern Svaneti region on 9 September directed against local criminal gangs, Civil Georgia reported. The Svaneti region has seen a sharp increase in crime over the past year and is thought to be used as a logistical base for various kidnapping and smuggling gangs. Interior Minster Koba Narchemashvili met with the local civilian and law enforcement officials prior to the deployment. President Shevardnadze ordered a crackdown on criminal activity in the region in late August. RG

IS KAZAKHSTAN'S WAY TO EUROPEAN UNION VIA EURASIAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY?Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev told journalists at a joint press conference with visiting Romanian President Ion Iliescu in Astana on 9 September that the Eurasian Economic Community (EEC), of which Kazakhstan and several other CIS states are members, as an organization of countries with open borders and integrated trade could at some point unite with the European Union to the benefit of both, gazeta.kz reported. In the meantime, however, Nazarbaev thinks Kazakhstan should be more interesting to the EU than are some East European states because of its reforms and economic-growth rate. Kazakhstan already has a trade agreement with the EU, but the European Parliament has been critical of Kazakhstan's human rights record, particularly its treatment of the independent media. BB

KAZAKHSTAN SEEKS ROMANIAN HELP WITH OIL EXPORTSPresident Nazarbaev used the visit of Romanian President Iliescu to seek additional routes for shipping Kazakh oil to Europe, Interfax-Kazakhstan reported on 9 September. In particular, Nazarbaev asked about using the Romanian port of Constanta for oil shipments, and several agreements on Kazakh-Romanian cooperation in the oil sector were signed during Iliescu's visit. The report noted that Kazakhstan is currently producing twice as much oil as it consumes, and plans to double or triple its oil production over the next 10 to 12 years. BB

ADVOCATES SAY PRISON CONDITIONS FOR KAZAKH JOURNALIST HAVE DETERIORATEDThe prison conditions of opposition journalist Sergei Duvanov have sharply deteriorated, according to a statement by the Public Headquarters for the Defense of Duvanov, Deutsche Welle reported on 8 September. According to the statement, Duvanov has been beaten and tortured by prison authorities on a daily basis for the last two months in an attempt to force him to request a presidential pardon, and the defense group fears for his health. Journalists in Distress leader Rozlana Taukina, a member of the group, said that food, newspapers, and letters have not been delivered to Duvanov, nor have his supporters been able to hear from him. He was sentenced in January 2003 to 3 1/2 years in prison upon being convicted of raping a minor, a charge that is widely considered to have been retaliation for his articles accusing President Nazarbaev and members of his family of corruption. BB

RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN COMPLAINS OF MISSIONARIES IN KAZAKHSTANIn a 9 September article in "Kazakhstanskaya pravda," Metropolitan Mefodii of Astana and Almaty complained that Kazakhstan is being inundated by a "powerful wave of missionaries" who are practicing what he called "aggressive proselytism" and, in his view, are creating tension among the ethnic groups living in the country. The metropolitan added that "pseudo-religious organizations" are exploiting people's religious sentiments and called for the rejection of all forms of proselytism. The article, written in connection with the upcoming forum of traditional world religions, called for members of various traditional faiths in Kazakhstan to improve their knowledge of each other's beliefs. BB

UZBEK BORDER GUARDS SHOOT KAZAKH CITIZENInhabitants of the village of Bagys on the Kazakh-Uzbek border told journalists on 9 September that fellow villager Bakdaulet Madagaliev was wounded by Uzbek border guards who opened fire on him when he tried to retrieve a cow that had strayed across the border, gazeta.kz reported on 9 September. Madagaliev's horse was killed, but despite having been hit in the knee, Madagaliev managed to reach a Kazakh border post, pursued by the Uzbek guards. Village head Abidulla Kusainov told journalists that locals live in fear that their livestock and, possibly, their children will be shot by the Uzbek border guards. BB

KYRGYZ PRESIDENT THANKS BRITAIN FOR ASSISTANCE, ASKS THAT IT OPEN EMBASSYAskar Akaev thanked a visiting group of British parliamentarians, members of the British Group of the Interparliamentary Union, for Britain's assistance to combat poverty in Kyrgyzstan, kabar.kg and akipress.org reported on 9 September. He also noted that relations between Kyrgyzstan and Great Britain have intensified recently and asked that a British Embassy be opened in Bishkek. Praising the activities of the international antiterrorism coalition in Afghanistan, Akaev told the visitors that with the support of friendly countries, Kyrgyzstan can make a significant contribution to the fight against international terrorism and drug trafficking. BB

ARREST OF ALLEGED TWO HIZB UT-TAHRIR ACTIVISTS NEAR DUSHANBE WORRIES TAJIK AUTHORITIESTajik authorities are concerned that the arrest of two alleged Hizb ut-Tahrir activists in Yavan, a town 30 kilometers south of Dushanbe, indicates that the radical Muslim organization's influence is moving southward, RIA-Novosti reported on 9 September. The two detainees, a Tajik man and a woman who is an Uzbek citizen, were reportedly distributing Hizb ut-Tahrir leaflets that call for the overthrow of the Tajik government. An unidentified law enforcement official noted that previously Hizb ut-Tahrir activists have been arrested in Dushanbe, Khujand, and areas bordering Uzbekistan. According to the Tajik Prosecutor-General's Office, more than 30 Hizb ut-Tahrir activists have been arrested in Tajikistan this year. BB

UZBEK OPPOSITION GROUP ALLEGES ACTIVIST WAS KIDNAPPED BY UZBEK POLICEThe banned Uzbek opposition party Erk has told journalists that a party activist, Hasan Kambarov, was kidnapped by police in the town of Chirchik near Tashkent in May, and the Uzbek authorities have refused to confirm that they are detaining him, Deutsche Welle reported on 8 September, quoting Safar Bekjan, an Erk leader who lives in exile in Switzerland. According to Bekjan, Kambarov had been detained by police earlier and held for 50 days, but was then released. Erk found out about the May detention from people who had been in a remand facility with Kambarov. Bekjan said the party is seriously concerned about Kambarov's fate and is describing it as a kidnapping rather than an arrest because other people who have similarly disappeared in the past have never been seen again. BB

BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT APPOINTS NEW CHIEF OF BODYGUARDSPresident Alyaksandr Lukashenka on 9 September appointed Major General Yury Zhadobin as chief of the presidential security service, simultaneously releasing him from the post of commander of the Interior Troops, Belarusian Television reported. JM

ANOTHER NGO CLOSED IN BELARUSA district court in Minsk on 8 September shut down the Association for Legal Assistance to the Population (PDN), saying the organization provided legal assistance without a license and used incorrect stamps and letterhead, Belapan reported. "We were liquidated for helping people free of charge. It is apparent that the authorities do not need legally educated people," PDN head Aleh Vouchak said. Police arrested PDN activist Alena Novikava, who displayed the placard "We Demand A Fair Trial!" in front of the court building. On 9 September, another district court fined her 2.8 million Belarusian rubles ($1,300) for demonstrating outside President Lukashenka's office on 30 August. The PDN, established in 1998, rendered legal assistance to some 4,000 people, most of whom would have received little or no legal assistance otherwise. In particular, PDN lawyers attended court hearings to represent the families of opposition politicians Yury Zakharanka and Viktar Hanchar, and journalist Dzmitry Zavadski, all of whom have all disappeared. JM

UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT PLANS BIG GRAIN IMPORTSDeputy Prime Minister for Agriculture Ivan Kyrylenko told the Verkhovna Rada on 9 September that Ukraine imported 750,000 tons of wheat and 230,000 tons of rye this year, Interfax reported. He added that, in connection with this year's poor crop, the government deems it necessary to import an additional 2 million tons of grain by the end of the year. Kyrylenko urged deputies to allow the government to cancel value-added tax payments for grain importers until next August and continue waiving customs duties for wheat and rye imports until June 2004. JM

UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION LEADER SUES PROSECUTOR-GENERAL FOR SLANDERYuliya Tymoshenko, head of the eponymous opposition bloc, has brought a lawsuit against Prosecutor-General Svyatoslav Piskun, charging that he defamed Tymoshenko's honor and business reputation in a recent interview with the "Delovaya nedela" weekly, Interfax reported. "The entire life of Yuliya Tymoshenko is built upon deception," Piskun reportedly told the weekly. "She deceives her family, the state, the people, the president, law-enforcement bodies, and her voters." The Prosecutor-General's Office recently requested that the Verkhovna Rada lift Tymoshenko's immunity so that she can be prosecuted for allegedly giving bribes (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 September 2003). JM

FINNISH PRESIDENT VISITS ESTONIATarja Halonen began a two-day official visit to Estonia on 9 September with talks with her Estonian counterpart, Arnold Ruutel, BNS reported. In a speech at the National Library, Halonen noted that it is easier for Finland to cope with globalization within the EU, than outside it. Although careful not to give any direct recommendation to Estonian voters in the upcoming referendum on EU membership, Halonen said, "We would like Estonia to become a member of the European Union." She also met with parliament speaker Ene Ergma and with Prime Minister Juhan Parts. Halonen is scheduled to give a lecture on Finnish-Estonian relations at Tartu University on 10 September. She will deliver it in Estonian, as she has been studying the language for the past two years. SG

DUTCH FOREIGN MINISTER DISCUSSES EU FUTURE WITH LATVIAN OFFICIALSJaap de Hoop Scheffer made a one-day official visit to Riga on 9 September to urge Latvia to join the EU, BNS reported. He assured President Vaira Vike-Freiberga that Latvia will not lose its identity in the EU and that the experience of the Netherlands shows that this identity will only grow stronger. Talks with Society Integration Affairs Minister Nils Muiznieks covered the problems of non-citizens, mixed marriages, and education reform in Latvia. Muiznieks noted that naturalization is slow due to psychological factors, as well as to practical reasons including the desire to avoid military service and the availability of cheaper visas to CIS countries. Scheffer and Foreign Minister Sandra Kalniete discussed the Intergovernmental Conference that will be held in Rome in October. Kalniete mentioned that there are several points in the draft EU Constitution that her country would like to discuss further. SG

LITHUANIAN PREMIER, U.S. AMBASSADOR DISCUSS RUSSIAN OIL FIELD ISSUEAlgirdas Brazauskas and the new U.S. ambassador to Lithuania, Stephen Mull, discussed Lithuania's upcoming membership of the EU, U.S. relations with the EU, and Lithuania's relations with its neighbors in Vilnius on 9 September, BNS reported. Brazauskas noted that the issue of transit travel between Kaliningrad Oblast and the rest of Russia via Lithuania has been resolved, but concerns about LUKoil's plans to extract oil from the Baltic Sea off the Curonian Spit near the maritime border with Lithuania remain, even though he has discussed the matter with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov several times. He expressed regret that Kasyanov has not yet responded to a letter Brazauskas sent in June calling for an international investigation into the project. He said the Russian ambassador in Vilnius informed him that a reply will be sent soon. Brazauskas also said the environment ministers of the two countries should meet to discuss the oil-extraction plans. SG

POLISH CABINET ADOPTS 2004 DRAFT BUDGET...The government set projected revenues in its 2004 budget draft at 152 billion zlotys ($38.2 billion) and an overall budget deficit of 45.5 billion zlotys, or 5.3 percent of the country's GDP, Polish media reported. The government's draft is based on a forecasted increase in GDP growth from a predicted level of 3.2 percent this year to 5 percent in 2004. The budget draft proposes a single 19-percent corporate-tax rate, down from the current 27 percent. JM

...AND POSITION ON EU CONSTITUTIONAlso on 9 September, the government adopted a position for the upcoming intergovernmental conference in Rome concerning the proposed Constitution of the European Union (see "RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report," 9 September 2003), Polish Radio reported. Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz told journalists that Poland wants to preserve the Nice Treaty system of vote shares in the EU Council. Cimoszewicz said Poland supports the provision that each EU member country has one commissioner as well as veto power on the joint union foreign, defense, and security policy. He also noted that Warsaw wants the EU Constitution to contain a reference to Europe's Christian traditions. JM

POLL SAYS POLISH PRESIDENT'S WIFE IS MOST POPULAR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATEA poll by the OBOP polling center, commissioned by the weekly "Polityka," found that had a presidential election been held in August, Jolanta Kwasniewska, the wife of President Aleksander Kwasniewski, would have won, Polish media reported on 9 September. Kwasniewska, who was supported by 34 percent of respondents, was followed by: Self-Defense leader Andrzej Lepper with 8 percent; Civic Platform lawmaker Jan Maria Rokita with 6 percent; Sejm speaker Marek Borowski with 5 percent; former Civic Platform leader Andrzej Olechowski with 5 percent; and Law and Justice leader and Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczynski with 4 percent. JM

CZECH PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS REFERENDUM ON EUROPEAN CONSTITUTIONThe lower house's Committee for European Integration on 9 September approved a recommendation to the plenum calling for a referendum on the envisaged European Constitution, CTK reported. The committee's resolution says that accepting a document of such significance is too important a decision to be left just to the two chambers of parliament. According to CTK, the recommendation is now likely to be discussed in other committees of the Chamber of Deputies as well. Meanwhile, TASR reported on 9 September that the European Parliament's Constitutional Committee that day rejected a demand of smaller EU members and candidate members that each have a commissioner on the European Commission. The Czech Republic, Slovakia, and other candidate countries supported this demand. MS

FORMER CZECH PRESIDENT TAKES LEAVE OF LONG-TIME FRIENDFormer President Vaclav Havel led some 250 mourners on 9 September in paying tribute to Pavel Tigrid, a symbolic figure of the Czechoslovak anticommunist exile movement, who was buried that day in the Paris suburb of Hericy, CTK and AFP reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 September 2003). "He was one of our sure things," Havel said of Tigrid, who helped establish the image and reputation abroad of the dissident playwright and future president of the Czech Republic. "I think that Pavel Tigrid left as a free man, with peace in his soul," said Havel, implicitly confirming reports in the Czech press that Tigrid committed suicide following a long illness. The daily "Mlada fronta Dnes" wrote the same day that after a stroke suffered three years earlier, Tigrid had to face a decline of his mental and physical abilities and this was probably the reason for his decision to end his life. MS

SLOVAK PREMIER CONFIRMS INTENTION TO DISMISS SECURITY HEADPrime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda told journalists on 9 September that he no longer has confidence in National Security Office (NBU) head Jan Mojzis and wants to remove him from that position, TASR and CTK reported. Dzurinda refused to specify any reason for his loss of confidence in Mojzis, but reports in recent last weeks said the premier named him as one of the members of a "group" at work to undermine Dzurinda, his Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU), and the Slovak Information Service (SIS) (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 September 2003). Dzurinda said he has asked the SDKU steering committee for support and has received that backing. Asked whether the move will not affect Slovakia's good relations with its NATO allies, Dzurinda replied, "Slovakia is a sovereign country." Mojzis is known to have enjoyed the trust of the U.S. and British ambassadors to Slovakia and of President Rudolf Schuster. Dzurinda said he intends to replace Mojzis with Martin Pado, who is currently a state secretary in the Interior Ministry. MS

SLOVAK ECONOMY MINISTER OFFICIALLY RESIGNSEconomy Minister Robert Nemcsics officially submitted on 9 September his resignation to President Rudolf Schuster, TASR and CTK reported. Schuster said he will announce on 10 September whether he accepts the resignation. Nemcsics first announced that he would leave the post on 27 August after he lost the backing of his Alliance for a New Citizenship (ANO) party for having criticized Chairman Pavol Rusko's leadership style. Rusko will replace him in the cabinet (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 August, 4 September 2003). MS

SLOVAK TRADE UNIONISTS STAGE PROTEST IN FRONT OF PARLIAMENTSome 1,500 trade-union members participated in a protest in front of the parliament building on 9 September, TASR and CTK reported. They are demanding a raise in the minimum wage to half of the average wage of 6,700 crowns ($180), and improvements in pension benefits. The Confederation of Trade Unions (KOZ) has called for a one-hour warning strike on 26 September. MS

HUNGARIAN COALITION AT WAR WITH PROSECUTOR-GENERAL...Deputies representing the ruling coalition demanded on 9 September that Prosecutor-General Peter Polt be subjected to a parliamentary hearing, because his office has declined to file criminal charges in any of the 53 cases in which the incumbent cabinet alleges that the administration of former Premier Viktor Orban was guilty of mishandling public funds, "Nepszabadsag" and "Magyar Hirlap" reported the next day. In response, the Prosecutor-General's Office said on 9 September that it has acted strictly in accordance with the law and the constitution when deciding to close or suspend investigations. MS

...AS RULING PARTY LAUNCHES 'NEW ERA'Socialist Party official Joszef Tobias said on 9 September that the party will launch a new style of campaigning for public support, and thousands of party activists will roam the streets this month in all constituencies of the country to inform local residents about the achievements of the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy, "Nepszabadsag," "Magyar Hirlap," and "Magyar Nemzet" reported the next day. Tobias said the activists will distribute a 14-page leaflet describing the government's fulfillment of its campaign pledges and charging that the opposition FIDESZ is attempting to mislead society in its criticism of the government. In response, FIDESZ official Mariusz Revesz said he hopes the Socialist leaflets will show that "the government will drastically raise the value-added tax, introduce new taxes, eliminate some tax breaks, and significantly raise the cost of gas, electricity, and medicine, and freeze wages." MS

HUNGARIAN BANK GOVERNOR URGES REFORMSNational Bank Governor Zsigmond Jarai warned on 9 September that Hungary will not be able to join the euro zone by the 2008 target unless current economic trends are curbed, "Magyar Hirlap" and "Vilaggazdasag" reported the next day. Speaking at an economic forum in Sopron, Jarai said: "We need an economic policy that is independent of short-term political goals," adding that a "radical change in economic policy" is necessary for maintaining the euro schedule. Jarai said one of the most pressing issues is the immediate halt of the country's growing debt. He said national debt was 52-53 percent of the gross domestic product in 2001, but has since reached 60 percent. MS

CONTROVERSY OVER SEGREGATED SCHOOL REVIVED IN HUNGARYMuch like last year (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 and 24 September 2002), the opening of the new school year in Hungary has prompted a public debate over a private school in Jaszladany that opponents charge is segregating Romany children, "Magyar Hirlap" and "Nepszava" reported on 10 September. Minority Rights Ombudsman Jeno Kaltenbach said in a position paper sent to the Education Ministry that the school was unequivocally founded for the purpose of segregation. Kaltenbach said classes at the school cannot be allowed to go on, as they infringe on the constitutional provision banning discrimination in public education. The school's principal said in reaction that she finds it odd that Kaltenbach has issued a verdict on the school without having visited it or obtaining information about its principles. Equal Opportunities Minister Katalin Lendvai recently said the school must be given a chance to prove it is not discriminatory. MS

SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO PERFORMS U-TURN ON HUNGARIAN DUAL CITIZENSHIPSerbia and Montenegro is now against granting Hungarian citizenship to members of the Hungarian national minorities who live in the joint state, "Magyar Hirlap" reported on 10 September. The daily cited unidentified officials in Belgrade as saying they are not opposed in principle to the idea of dual citizenship, but the countries involved in such bilateral agreements should make dual citizenship available to all citizens, regardless of ethnic origin. The daily says this is reversal of the position expressed in June by Serbian Premier Zoran Zivkovic, who said then that his country would raise no objections to granting dual citizenship to Hungarian-minority members from Vojvodina (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 July 2003). MS

MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT WANTS THE EU MILITARY MISSION TO GO...President Boris Trajkovski said on 9 September that he does not see any necessity for the EU to extend the mandate of its Concordia military mission beyond the current term ending on 15 December, MIA news agency reported. "Macedonia is sufficiently able to deal with any challenge, as we have shown in the past. [We have therefore decided] that the Concordia mission should end on 15 December," Trajkovski said. His statement came in reaction to various signals that Brussels might seek to prolong the mission in order to show that the EU is capable of organizing military missions (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 and 5 September 2003, and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 5 September 2003). Unnamed Macedonian experts believe that an expert advisory mission to train the country's police forces should replace the EU military mission, "Utrinski vesnik" reported on 10 September. UB

...AS QUESTIONS ARISE ABOUT THE EU'S MILITARY GOALSLieutenant Tsialikis Asterios, a Greek soldier who is part of Concordia, told "The Christian Science Monitor" on 9 September in the field: "I like this work. It is stressful because we are always at risk, but I would fight a war for the European Union, if necessary. The EU is much closer to our hearts as citizens of Europe than NATO, which is often seen as a representative of the United States." Macedonian security adviser Stevo Pendarovski believes that "it is true that [the EU] has coordinated the mission in Macedonia perfectly, but this is the military equivalent of homework for the first grade.... In my view, the mission in Bosnia is too big for the EU to swallow at this point. They have very little in terms of air lift and transport capabilities, and they rely heavily on NATO for intelligence." Led by Paris and Berlin, the EU is anxious to develop its own military capacity without the United States, which has taken a renewed interest in the Balkans since 11 September 2001 because of the region's importance for counterterrorism work (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 August and 5 September 2003, and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 27 June and 5 September 2003). PM

CROATIAN PRESIDENT ARRIVES IN SERBIA ON SYMBOLIC VISITPresident Svetozar Marovic of Serbia and Montenegro welcomed his Croatian counterpart, Stipe Mesic, in Belgrade on 10 September for a one-day official visit, regional and international media reported. This is the first such trip by a Croatian head of state to Belgrade since the dissolution of former Yugoslavia began in 1991 and is widely seen as being of great symbolic importance. Mesic will discuss international and bilateral issues -- such as Euro-Atlantic integration and the return of refugees, including 300,000 Croatian Serbs -- with Belgrade's top political leaders (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 27 June 2003). He will also meet with representatives of Serbia and Montenegro's Croatian minority. Neither Mesic nor Marovic have much real power, but the visit can provide an impetus for a further normalization of relations. The Croatian president recently spent a day in Montenegro (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 August 2003). PM

CROATIAN COMPANY WINS SERBIAN LOCOMOTIVE TENDERThe Zagreb-based Koncar company, which makes electric locomotives, won a contract worth more than $27 million to modernize 38 locomotives for the Belgrade Public Railway Transport Company over the course of 30 months, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported. The Nis-based MIN company and Belgrade's Minel will also take part in the project. The JZ 441 and 461 locomotives, which are to be modernized, were built in Croatia and Romania. PM

SERBIAN OPPOSITION CLOSING RANKS?Speaker of the Serbian parliament and Acting President Natasa Micic said in Belgrade on 9 September that she expects shortly to conclude consultations with the various political parties in preparation for calling elections for the Serbian presidency, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 and 9 September 2003 and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 11 October 2002). Meanwhile, Miroljub Labus, who heads the opposition G-17 Plus political party, and former Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, who leads the opposition Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), jointly called for new parliamentary elections lest there be "a crisis of [government] institutions." Labus said there is no point in holding a presidential vote without one for the parliament. Before their meeting, Kostunica said one should not read too much into the cooperation between the two opposition parties, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported. He was cool to the idea of working with the G-17 Plus party after the elections. PM

SLOVENIA ENDS THE DRAFTPrime Minister Tone Rop said in Ljubljana on 9 September that "from today, the obligatory army service in Slovenia is over, and now the professionalization of the army is on the way," Reuters reported. Plans are to increase the number of professional soldiers from 5,000 at present to 18,000 by 2010 (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 7 and 28 February, and 28 March 2003). PM

SLOVENIAN MINISTER SAYS RELATIONS WITH CROATIA 'NOT HOSTILE'Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel told the Ljubljana-based "Dnevnik" on 10 September that relations with Croatia are "complex but not hostile," Hina reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 and 9 September 2003, and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 15 and 22 August, and 5 September 2003). Rupel stressed that Slovenia -- which will soon join both the EU and NATO -- is a "victim of its own success" in its relations with Croatia, which he described as part of "the black hole that has emerged between Slovenia and Greece." He repeated his previous claim that Slovenia will soon be in a position to adversely affect Croatia's plans to join the EU and NATO if Zagreb declares an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Adriatic to the detriment of Ljubljana. Elsewhere, Meta Bole, who heads the Slovenian Foreign Ministry's Legal Affairs Department, said the 16 September bilateral meeting to discuss the EEZ should consist of legal experts and not political figures. PM

ROMANIAN PREMIER SAYS COUNTRY NEEDS TO BRUSH UP IMAGE IN FRANCEPrime Minister Adrian Nastase, on a two-day visit to France, said on 9 September that Romania must take action "on the economic and political levels" to improve its current image in France, Mediafax reported. Nastase said that French public opinion of Romania is negative due to the distorted reports it gets on his country. He said this is important because the French parliament would have to approve Romania's integration into the EU and might not do so "under the pressure of [negative] public opinion." Separately, in an interview with the daily "Le Figaro" on 9 September, Nastase said the European Constitution project "poses no problems" for Romania as it stands and that opening it to renewed debates "might leave wounds that would be difficult to heal." He added, however, that some unspecified "ambiguities" in the current project should be "clarified." MS

ROMANIAN OFFICIALS HINT RESOLUTION TO HUNGARIAN MONUMENT RIFT NEARRuling Social Democratic Party (PSD) Secretary-General Dan Matei Agathon said on 9 September that the joint commission that monitors the cooperation agreement between the PSD and the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) will visit Arad this week to search for a solution to the conflict over the Hungarian Liberty Monument (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 August and 9 September 2003). Agathon said historians and members of the Romanian Academy will accompany the commission. Last month, a Culture Ministry commission ruled against re-erecting the recently restored monument, and municipal inspectors in Arad last week said irregularities have been discovered in the reconstruction project. UDMR Chairman Bela Marko told RFE/RL on 9 September that he has discussed the issue with Premier Nastase, who acknowledged that there is opposition to the project within his party. Marko said Nastase proposed that a new monument representing both Romanian and Hungarian participants in the 1848 revolution be commissioned in place of the Liberty Statue. He added that the UDMR insists that the agreement reached earlier between the two parties to re-erect the original monument be respected. MS

MOLDOVA, TRANSDNIESTER FINALIZE CONSTITUTIONAL CHAPTER NEGOTIATIONSIon Creanga, Moldovan co-chairman of the joint constitutional commission tasked with drafting a federal constitution, told RFE/RL on 9 September that the Moldovan and Transdniester representatives on the commission have practically ended drafting the envisaged basic document's second chapter, which deals with the basic rights and duties of citizens. Creanga said there are still a few articles in the chapter on which disagreements persist, and those will be submitted next week to additional negotiations by the two side's experts. He said the federal constitution's first chapter has thus far not been discussed, because divergences are much greater in this part of the envisaged document. While Tiraspol wants the federation defined as one of two equal subjects, Chisinau insists on central control, with large powers devolved to Tiraspol. MS

MOLDOVAN VETERANS DEMAND RELEASE OF TIRASPOL PRISONERSThe Transdniester War Veterans' Organization on 9 September demanded the immediate release of the three "Ilascu group" members who are in jail in Tiraspol, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. In an open letter addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin, separatist leader Igor Smirnov, and OSCE mission head William Hill, the veterans said that, against the background of the current negotiations between Chisinau and Tiraspol, it is "senseless" to keep the three in prison. MS

BULGARIAN PRESIDENT URGES PARLIAMENT OVER REFORM OF JUDICIARYPresident Georgi Parvanov told a conference on planned constitutional changes on 9 September that the parliamentary consensus shown during the first reading of the amendments regarding the judiciary should not be jeopardized by "new proposals exceeding the framework" of the existing draft amendments, vsekiden.com reported. Parvanov said the constitutional changes alone would not guarantee the independent functioning of the judiciary. He therefore called on parliament also to adopt "well-considered and lasting legal changes that could create stability in legal regulations" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 and 4 September 2003 and "End Note," "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 September 2003). UB

BULGARIAN MEDIA CONCERNED ABOUT DRAFT AMENDMENTS TO PENAL CODEThe Bulgarian Media Coalition (BMK) -- an umbrella organization uniting journalists' unions, NGOs, and media operators such as cable-television providers -- on 9 September called on parliament not to approve draft amendments to the Penal Code proposed by Interior Minister Georgi Parvanov, mediapool.bg reported. The BMK charges that the proposed amendments could limit freedom of speech, as some of the draft regulations regarding access to and distribution of classified information are "extremely unclear." They also conflict with journalists' duty to inform the public and their constitutional right to receive information from state institutions, the BMK said (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 September 2003). UB

IMF CALLS ON BULGARIA NOT TO TOUCH ITS FISCAL RESERVESpeaking at his first press conference as the International Monetary Fund's new permanent representative in Bulgaria on 9 September, James Roaf said the government should regard the state's fiscal reserve as something that should not be used up, mediapool.bg reported. Thus, he rebuffed the suggestion by Ahmed Dogan, who chairs the governing Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), to use 10 percent of the reserve for infrastructure construction. According to Roaf, a major tool for raising the standard of living in the country is to attract more foreign investment by improving the legal framework and the business climate. UB

SOFIA WANTS TEHRAN'S HELP IN KARBALAIranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi left Damascus for Sofia on 9 September and met with his Bulgarian counterpart Solomon Pasi later that day, according to international news agencies. Pasi asked Kharrazi to help in the establishment of good relations with the Shi'a community in Karbala, where a unit of Bulgarian soldiers is stationed, Bulgarian National Television's Channel 1 and the privately owned BGNES news agency reported. "The good contacts between our Iranian colleagues and the Shi'a in Karbala are well-known," Pasi said. "That is why I turned to them with a request to help us succeed in establishing a good climate, a friendly climate for our soldiers in Karbala to operate in. I received my Iranian counterpart's assurance of his support." The two sides also discussed counternarcotics, as opiates originating in Afghanistan transit Iran and make their way to Europe along the Balkan Route, which passes through Bulgaria. Kharrazi also met with National Assembly Chairman Ognyan Gerdzhikov, who expressed optimism about the construction of a natural-gas pipeline from Iran via Turkey to Bulgaria to the rest of Europe, BTA reported on 9 September. Gerdzhikov expressed the hope that the decrease in bilateral trade will be reversed. BS

IRAQ AND A BODY BAG FOR LESS THAN $50

Police in Iran's western Ilam Province on 2 September discovered the remains of six Iranians near the border with Iraq. The six had died of heat stroke and dehydration, according to IRNA, and some 205 people have suffered similar fates in recent months.

Just one day earlier, border guards in southwestern Khuzestan Province arrested 30 Iranians who were trying to cross the river that marks the border with Iraq, IRNA reported.

The victims and the detainees in these cases reportedly were trying to make pilgrimages to Al-Najaf and Karbala, where Shi'a Islam's most revered imams are buried. Pilgrimage to these shrines was impossible during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, and restrictions continued even after the war. Iran closed its border with Iraq in February due to safety concerns relating to the impending war.

There have been vague signals on the status of the border since that time. Qasr-i Shirin Governor Khosh-Eqbali told ISNA on 3 September that restrictions on border crossings that were set in place at the request of the Iraqi Governing Council have been lifted. Baghdad requested these restrictions to prevent an influx of people expected for the funeral of Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim, according to a 31 August report on Al-Jazeera television. The restrictions were ineffective, with IRNA reporting on 4 September that 20,000 Iranians participated in the funeral procession.

Khosh-Eqbali added, however, that Iraqi pilgrims could enter Iran on the basis of pre-existing regulations, whereas Iranian citizens could only enter Iraq with an official permit.

Interior Minister Abdol-Vahed Musavi-Lari said on 29 August that the border crossings at Mehran in Ilam Province, Khosravi in Kermanshah Province, and Shalamcheh in Khuzestan Province will be opened soon so that pilgrimages could resume, state radio reported. Musavi-Lari added on 3 September, ISNA reported, that "A number of our compatriots have left Iran illegally because they love the imams, but unfortunately because there is no lawful government in Iraq and there is insecurity in the country's western regions, many of them have been killed and others have faced problems inside Iraq. We have repeatedly said that such movements are wrong."

The interior minister added that studies are under way to facilitate organized and legal visits to Iraq.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials have stressed that people should not make the pilgrimage yet. The Iranian charge d'affaires in Baghdad, Alireza Haqiqian, emphasized that the illegal pilgrimages are dangerous. "My request to those interested in paying a pilgrimage to the grand shrines is therefore to strictly avoid illegal visits and to let us have time to clarify an official and appropriate solution," he said, the official "Iran" newspaper reported on 21 August.

The Iranian army's ground forces commander, Brigadier General Nasser Mohammadifar, said in a 7 August officers' graduation-ceremony speech that people should not make the trip until doing so is legalized, state television reported on 7 August. He stressed that it is the army's duty to control the borders.

Even senior Iranian clerics have been enlisted in the effort to discourage border crossers. "We order people not to go," Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi told ISNA in an interview that was published in the 21 August "Resalat." "If the route is dangerous, the pilgrimage should be abandoned," he said. "Pilgrimage to the shrine of Imam Hussein has been a matter of choice, but the order to abandon it is a matter of certainty."

Nonetheless, many devoted Iranian Shi'a are not willing to wait for permission, and some of them try to make the trip with unqualified guides. Fishermen on the Shatt al-Arab waterway (the Arvand Rud) are smuggling the pilgrims across for $25, according to the Baztab website on 20 August. One pilgrim said in a 23 August interview with Iranian state television that his guide charged 300,000-400,000 rials (about $37.50-$50.00) for a one-way trip. "He didn't know how to do a round trip; he knew only how to go there," the pilgrim said about the guide.

The dangers faced by the pilgrims are considerable. The Ilam Province Justice Department's director-general said that casualties have included people who fell from mountain passes, stepped on land mines left from the Iran-Iraq War, suffered heat stroke, died in automobile accidents, succumbed to food poisoning, and were killed by Iraqi bandits.

Akbar Mohammadi, a pilgrim who was wounded in a minefield, said, "The guides that had charged the pilgrims an amount of money, fearing to be caught by the border guards, left our caravan halfway through, and that was the reason why we stepped in the minefield in Sarkhar region," IRNA reported on 19 August. "Some pilgrims who did not know the way insisted on proceeding toward Karbala, and that was how we lost some of our friends."

Iran's deputy interior minister for security and law enforcement affairs, Mr. Ahmadi, announced on 9 September that Iranians soon will be able to make the pilgrimage to Al-Najaf and Karbala, state radio reported. "Based on a program for structuring pilgrimages to the holy sites that was approved by Iraq's policy-making council, the two sides will cooperate for normalizing travel by pilgrims," he explained. "In the forthcoming days, travel by Iranian pilgrims will begin from the Khosravi, Shalamcheh, and Mehran border areas. And Iraqi pilgrims, for their part, can go to the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad and obtain visas for pilgrimage visits to Mashhad and Qom free of charge."

UN ENVOY QUESTIONS FEASIBILITY OF JUNE ELECTIONS IN AFGHANISTANUN special representative to Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi said the conditions necessary to ensure free and fair Afghan elections in June 2004 do not exist, "The Yomiuri Shimbun" reported 9 September. Brahimi stressed that although his office is not preparing for a delay, insecurity in the south and east of the country will make it "quite difficult" for elections to proceed as scheduled. Registering voters in an atmosphere of insecurity poses a problem in itself, Brahimi said, but beyond that lies the issue of voter confidence. Even in the relatively secure north, he said, the question remains whether "the people who have the guns in their hands" are going to force the Afghans to vote along predetermined lines. In the same interview, Brahimi said the Disarmament, Demobilization, and Rehabilitation program, postponed in July to allow time for Defense Ministry reform, could begin in mid-October. IL

VILLAGERS KILLED IN AMBUSH BY SUSPECTED NEO-TALIBANFour villagers were killed and one was wounded on 8 September when the truck carrying them from Spin Boldak to Kandahar Province's Shorawak District came under attack by suspected neo-Taliban guerrillas, AP reported. Head Shorawak administrator Haji Fazal Mohammed speculated that the assailants mistook the travelers for government troops, but AP noted that he offered no evidence for his theory and that no one has claimed responsibility. Neo-Taliban fighters have been blamed for a sharp rise in attacks on government troops near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, but civilians have rarely been targeted. IL

AFGHAN CABINET APPROVES LAW ALLOWING POLITICAL PARTIESAfghan ministers on 8 September passed a law approving the formation of political parties, furthering Afghanistan's progression toward a democratic multiparty system ahead of elections next June, AFP reported. Under the 1964 Constitution currently in effect, political parties are not recognized. The news agency quoted government spokesman Jawed Ludin as saying the new law incorporates "all criteria of a democratic and pluralistic society" as well as "Islamic laws and values." According to AFP, when members of the Communist Party, which ruled Afghanistan in the 1980s, formed the National United Party last month, Justice Minister Rahim Karimi condemned them, reportedly saying only those who believe in God have the right to form political parties. Ludin said Afghan Transitional Administration Chairman Hamid Karzai will issue a decree on the new law but did not say when. IL

TEHRAN EXPECTS PAYMENT FOR RETURNING SPENT NUCLEAR FUELRussian state secretary and deputy atomic energy minister Valerii Govorukhin said on 9 September that there is no connection between international pressure on Iran to sign the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and delays in signing of the Russia-Iran protocol on the return of spent nuclear fuel, ITAR-TASS reported. Govorukhin said commercial aspects of the deal must be addressed prior to the signing, and he went on to explain that Tehran sees the spent fuel as its property and wants to be paid for sending it back to Russia for storage and reprocessing. The international practice, he added, is for the party providing these services to receive payment. If Tehran does not comply with this practice, Russia would have to raise the price of the fuel it is supplying to include the expenses associated with accepting the spent fuel. BS

IAEA CONSIDERS RESOLUTIONS ON IRANSouth Africa at the 9 September International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors meeting submitted a draft resolution that calls on Iran "as an urgent and essential matter" to improve cooperation and transparency and to give "at an early date" all necessary assurances about its nuclear program, the "Financial Times" reported on 10 September. A draft resolution submitted by France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, on the other hand, said that it is "essential and urgent" that Tehran remedy the failures identified by the IAEA and comply fully with its nuclear obligations by the next scheduled board meeting in November, according to AP on 9 September. The resolution calls on Iran to suspend all uranium-enrichment activities, including the introduction of nuclear materials at Natanz, and it calls on Tehran to ratify and sign the Additional Protocol of the NPT, which would allow more intrusive and unannounced nuclear inspections by the IAEA. BS

ANOTHER SHOOTING AT BRITISH EMBASSY IN TEHRANBritish Embassy press attache Andrew Greenstock announced on 9 September that "three or four bullets" were fired at the embassy earlier in the day, Mehr News Agency reported. Greenstock went on to say, "In a strong protest to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, the British Embassy has said that the security measures adopted by the ministry since last Wednesday [3 September, when an earlier shooting occurred] are not adequate." An anonymous "informed source" at the Iranian Foreign Ministry told Mehr that the shots were not fired at the embassy and the issue was being exaggerated. "The shots were fired in one of the streets near the embassy at a considerable distance from the embassy building and did not hit the building," the source said. "The British Embassy is trying to blow up the incident." Later in the day, however, police public affairs official Ali Akbar Mahaki confirmed that somebody had shot at the embassy and added, "The bullets did not hit anything and there were no human or material losses." Mahaki said the police are seeking the gunmen and he speculated that they might be the ones responsible for the earlier shooting. BS

IRANIAN OFFICIALS DESCRIBE FALL IN UNEMPLOYMENTDeputy Labor Minister and Social Affairs Sadeq Bakhtiari said on 3 September that the current unemployment rate of 11.2 percent, two percentage points lower than it was at the same time one year ago, IRNA reported. Bakhtiari said this development is "indicative of the government's success in creating employment." Bakhtiari said the government's emergency employment act created 450,000 jobs. Bakhtiari had said in July that the unemployment situation is alarming and the increase in job opportunities is insufficient for job seekers' needs, IRNA reported on 25 August. In his September statement, furthermore, Bakhtiari said the plan to replace foreign workers with Iranian ones will be strictly enforced. Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs official Mohammad Azizi said on 25 August that the plan to replace foreign workers will open up 28,000 opportunities for unskilled laborers in Tehran Province this year, IRNA reported. Azizi said the national unemployment rate is around 11.6 percent and is close to 12.07 percent in the province. BS

SOFIA WANTS TEHRAN'S HELP IN KARBALAIranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi left Damascus for Sofia on 9 September and met with his Bulgarian counterpart Solomon Pasi later that day, according to international news agencies. Pasi asked Kharrazi to help in the establishment of good relations with the Shi'a community in Karbala, where a unit of Bulgarian soldiers is stationed, Bulgarian National Television's Channel 1 and the privately owned BGNES news agency reported. "The good contacts between our Iranian colleagues and the Shi'a in Karbala are well-known," Pasi said. "That is why I turned to them with a request to help us succeed in establishing a good climate, a friendly climate for our soldiers in Karbala to operate in. I received my Iranian counterpart's assurance of his support." The two sides also discussed counternarcotics, as opiates originating in Afghanistan transit Iran and make their way to Europe along the Balkan Route, which passes through Bulgaria. Kharrazi also met with National Assembly Chairman Ognyan Gerdzhikov, who expressed optimism about the construction of a natural-gas pipeline from Iran via Turkey to Bulgaria to the rest of Europe, BTA reported on 9 September. Gerdzhikov expressed the hope that the decrease in bilateral trade will be reversed. BS

DAILY SAYS IRAN WORKING FEVERISHLY TO SECURE ITS INTERESTS IN IRAQIran has many worries on the political future of Iraq, according to the daily "Al-Sharq" of 9 September, Kuna reported. "Al-Sharq" asserts that Iran and Turkey share a common concern on a growing Kurdish role in Iraq that might lead to an independent entity. This might motivate Iran and Turkey to forge similar policies on Iraq. The paper maintains that Iran, more than any other country in the region, has enormous influence in Iraq, primarily due to the strong ties it enjoys with the Shi'ite community, but notes that Tehran fears that a more profound relationship between the United States and the Shi'ite community will undermine this influence. The paper quotes well-informed U.S. and European sources as saying that Washington rejected a French offer to mend fences with Paris on Iraq. It also claims, citing the same sources, that the United States refused to grant Iran and Syria a key role in Iraq, along with other countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt. MA

BLAST TARGETING U.S. INTELLIGENCE HEADQUARTERS IN NORTHERN IRAQ KILLS ONE, INJURES SCORESOne person was killed and 53 people, including six U.S. Defense Department personnel, were injured on 9 September when a car bomb exploded in Arbil, a city in Kurdish-dominated territory in northern Iraq, Reuters reported on 10 September, citing a U.S. military spokesperson. An unidentified Kurdish security official told AP that four Iraqis were killed, including the bomber and a 12-year-old boy, when a vehicle packed with TNT struck the U.S. intelligence headquarters in the city. Spokesperson Staff Sergeant Shane Slaughter said only that the blast occurred near "the state house in Arbil," Reuters reported. Most of the injured are believed to be from nearby homes. The U.S. military in Baghdad later said that four "Defense Human Intelligence Service" officers and a Kurdish peshmerga guard were injured in the attack, AP reported. MA/MES

U.S. SOLDIER KILLED IN BOMB ATTACK NEAR BAGHDADOne U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded on 9 September when the fuel tanker they were traveling in was hit by an explosive device on the northeastern outskirts of Baghdad, international media reported. The tanker, carrying liquefied natural gas, was part of a convoy that was targeted by an "improvised explosive device," AFP reported, citing the U.S. military. The driver of the tanker was killed, according to the news agency, and Centcom reported that the wounded soldier was taken to a hospital for treatment. A policeman told AFP that the convoy was hit as it traveled under two overpasses on the main highway north out of Baghdad. The death of the U.S. soldier, the first recorded since 2 September, pushed to 68 the number of U.S. military personnel killed in combat-related incidents in Iraq since major combat operations the were declared over on 1 May, AFP reported. MES

TWO U.S. SOLDIERS INJURED IN BAGHDAD BLASTBreaking a lull in attacks on U.S. forces, Iraqi guerillas on 8 September set off a bomb that wounded two U.S. soldiers in Baghdad, as saboteurs hit an oil pipeline southeast of Kirkuk, Lebanon's "Daily Star" reported on 9 September. At least two U.S. soldiers were wounded on 8 September in a bomb attack on their vehicles near a bridge in central Baghdad, U.S. military officials and witnesses said. The daily quoted Sergeant Amy Abbott as saying two soldiers were injured when the Humvees they were traveling in were hit by an "improvised explosive device" near the Al-Jumhuriya Bridge. Meanwhile, Adel al-Qazzaz, the general director of the Northern Oil Co., said saboteurs hit an oil pipeline southeast of Kirkuk on 8 September, Lebanon's "Daily Star" reported the next day. Four firefighting teams reportedly brought the ensuing fire under control by nightfall and it was largely extinguished by the morning of 9 September, according to the daily. MA

KUWAITI, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTERS HOLD FACE-TO-FACE MEETING FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1990 INVASION...Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Shaykh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari held a face-to-face meeting on 9 September on the sidelines of the Arab League ministerial meeting in Cairo, Kuwait's Kuna news agency reported. Al-Sabah said he informed Zebari of Kuwait's solidarity with the Iraqi leadership and expressed support for its efforts to restore security and stability to the country. Al-Sabah also affirmed Kuwait's readiness to aid Baghdad in its efforts to restore its status in the Arab world. In remarks to Kuna, Zebari said the meeting was cordial and constituted a new chapter in relations between the new Iraq and "brotherly" Kuwait. The new relationship, according to Zebari, will be marked by cordial sentiments, friendship, cooperation, and respect. On the prospect of reopening the Iraqi and Kuwaiti embassies in the two countries, Zebari said that "this will be done with God's will." MA

...AS KUWAITI DEPUTY EXPRESSES HOPE FOR IRAQ'S REINTEGRATION INTO ARAB WORLDAbdulwahab al-Hroun, the head of the financial and economic committee in the Kuwaiti parliament, on 9 September expressed hope that a democratic Iraq governed by the rule of law will return to the Arab fold, Kuna reported. Al-Hroun told reporters in Khartoum, where he is heading the Kuwaiti delegation in a meeting of the Arab Parliamentary Union's political and parliamentary committees, that the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) should swiftly draft a constitution and then elect a constituent assembly to ratify the document, thus facilitating the holding of free elections. Al-Hroun said that following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, Iraq is passing through a new phase marked by hope, the news agency reported. He added that Iraq's wealth of natural resources guarantee a prosperous future for the country. On a different note al-Hroun asserted that the establishment of a common parliament is the hope of all Arab peoples. MA